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"The Blum Center may well be the finest program of its kind in the world. It turns out legions of young graduates who are well prepared with expertise, humility, purpose, and a pragmatic optimism for combating poverty in the US and globally."
Jimmy Carter, Former US President and Blum Center Honorary Trustee
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F E A T U R E S
  
Empowering Students Inside and Outside the Classroom
Blum Center Faculty Director Shankar Sastry explores how to spark students' curiosity, take advantage of new technologies, and educate for lifelong learning.
Fletcher Lab’s Mobile Phone-based Microscope for Neglected Tropical Diseases Receives Gates Foundation Support
The Gates Foundation's grant supports the scaled-up production of the LoaScope to enable mapping of a neglected tropical disease in Central and West Africa.
Educational Access and Exchange at Heart of Blum Center-Pinoleville Pomo Nation Collaboration
Youth from two Native tribes came to Berkeley as part of a summer STEAM program organized with Development Engineering and Global Poverty & Practice students.
  
What It Means To Be First Generation LatinX in Medical School: An Interview with Leilani Gutierrez-Palominos and Karla Tlatelpa
Two recent graduates attending UCLA’s Program in Medical Education-Leadership and Advocacy talk about how the Global Poverty & Practice minor helped shape their aspiration to work in medical field.
Big Ideas Contest and Rockefeller-Acumen Student Social Innovation Challenge Launch New Partnership
The Big Ideas Contest is one of four university social innovation competitions selected to be a part of the 2019-2020 Rockefeller Foundation-Acumen Student Social Innovation Challenge.
How One Big Idea Led to an Innovative Co-working Solution
Codi, an online platform that connects freelancers sick of coffee shops and expensive co-working spaces with owners and renters looking for additional income, received seed funding from F7.
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We Care Solar
The Blum Center-incubated nonprofit We Care Solar launched its first national Solar Suitcase program in partnership with the Liberian Ministry of Health, EnDev, UNFPA, UNICEF, PHIL, Africare, and others, equipping 430 health centers with 435 Solar Suitcases, training 44 technicians and 2,203 health workers to install and use its equipment, and supporting safer deliveries for more than 200,000 mothers and babies. Speaking at the Light Every Birth event in July, Liberian Minister of Health Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah described We Care Solar’s initiative as a life-changing opportunity for the country’s health sector. She told Front Page Africa: “I remember a few years back in the delivery room of JFK, there were no lights and we had a lantern that we had to share with the other delivery rooms. I remember us doing delivery in JFK Medical Center under a lantern light. So sometimes you miss how to respond to the mother or baby because it is dark." The work of We Care Solar and its founder Laura Stachel also were celebrated in People magazine.
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Maria Artunduaga
Big Ideas Winner Maria Artunduaga, founder of Respira Labs, continues to rack up recognitions and awards. This summer, Respira Labs received a SBIR Phase 1 grant from the National Science Foundation. Noted Dr. Artunduaga: “We got awarded in our first try (acceptance rate <14.4%); only 23% of PIs [principal investigators] were female in 2018; and only one Latina PI was awarded last year (0.5% out of 189 Phase I grantees).” Maria also was named in Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 40 under 40 list. She said of the honor: “My advocacy work promoting inclusion of more underrepresented minorities--particularly Latinos and women of color--in STEM seems to have contributed a lot.”
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Kevin Kung
Big Ideas Contest winner Kevin Kung, founder of Takachar, was named a 2019 Echoing Green Climate Fellow. Takachar aims to dramatically increase the amount of crop/forest residues that are transformed into marketable products around the world.
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Clair Brown
In “What America Needs to Know About Capitalism,” Economics and Development Engineering Professor Clair Brown wrote that the US has the resources to forge a more equitable and sustainable economy. With co-author Simon Sällström, she described the Sustainable Shared-Prosperity Policy Index (SSPI), which ranks 50 countries based on three broad criteria: 1) policies that structure markets with rules and taxes; 2) measures to protect the environment; and 3) government programs that support healthy, educated people along with the infrastructure and human rights that establish a well functioning society. Professor Brown’s research team also issued the report “Analyzing the Financial Risk of Holding Fossil Fuel Assets in CalPERS’ Portfolio,” which makes the case for transitioning from dirty fossil fuel energy to a clean energy economy.
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Laura Tyson
Blum Center Chair and Professor of Business Laura Tyson argued in “What Automation Means for the Gender Gap” that within the next decade rapid advances in artificial intelligence and automation will upend the labor market, replacing millions of jobs with new occupations that will require new technical skills. For women, she argued, the challenge is significant because they will face the usual obstacles to gender parity at work. Wrote Professor Tyson with co-author Mekala Krishnan of the McKinsey Global Institute: “If women can take advantage of opportunities to move to new jobs, they will maintain or even increase their current share of employment; if they cannot, already large gender inequalities could get worse. The good news is that women in both mature and emerging economies have made significant strides in closing educational gender gaps. The bad news is that many women in emerging economies still work in subsistence agriculture, and thus have little education and limited skills with which to make the transition to new occupations.”
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E V E N T S
Big Ideas Kick-Off Info Session Featuring Matt Turlock (2019 winner for Kaloum Bankhi)
(Sept. 12, 6:00pm PT | B100 Blum Hall)
The Big Ideas Contest kicks off with the first information session of the year! Get all the information you need to get started on your Big Ideas--rules, requirements, eligibility, and tips for participating in the 2019-20 Big Ideas Contest. In addition, hear from a previous Big Ideas winner, Matt Turlock. Stay after to receive advice about your idea and potentially meet other team members. RSVP here.
Big Ideas Kick-Off Information Session Featuring Darryl Diptee (2019 winner for Sonic Eyewear Project)
(Sept. 25, 6:00pm PT | B100 Blum Hall)
The Big Ideas staff will provide an overview of the rules, requirements, and eligibility for the 2019-20 Big Ideas Contest. In addition, hear from a previous Big Ideas winner, Darryl Diptee. Stay after to receive advice about your idea and potentially meet other team members.
Big Ideas Kick-Off Information Session Featuring Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Vélez from Back to the Roots
(October 10, 6:00pm PT | Banatao Auditorium & B100 Blum Hall)
Innovators@Cal is an annual event that spotlights the entrepreneurship resources available across the UC Berkeley campus for aspiring innovators. Students have the opportunity to pitch their ideas, recruit team members, and network with others in the innovation space. Keynote speakers will be Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Vélez, founders of Back to the Roots, former Big Ideas winner and a UC Berkeley-founded enterprise, now a Bay Area food company with a mission to bring better food and garden options to all Americans, starting from the ground up. (Food & refreshments will be provided.) Eventbrite RSVP Required!
Launch of Blum Center Fall Speaker Series on on Social Impact, Social Justice, and Organizational Decisions, Featuring Former Labor Secretary and Public Policy Professor Robert Reich
(October 10, 12 pm | B100 Blum Hall)
What are the differences between the goals of social impact and social justice? How do organizations or movements understand the achievement of either goal? Do the differences between the terms matter significantly? Blum Center Senior Fellow Robert Reich provides history, context, nuance.
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